“Like love, breakfast is best made at home.” Gina Barreca
Now you will see that resetting your microbiome and eating correctly will not only make you healthier and feel better overall, but it can also be fun and tasty. A dentist once told me that your teeth are the most important things you have because without them you cannot enjoy food, which is one of life’s biggest pleasures. The reason we do not refer to the concepts in this book as a diet is that diets are usually something that you think of as depriving you of foods that taste good. This is quite the opposite.
They also say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Some people actually skip breakfast, which is a big mistake, because it replenishes your supply of glucose to boost your energy and alertness after a good night’s sleep, kick starts your metabolism, and helps you burn more calories during the day.[1]
Start off every day before breakfast with drinking a minimum of 650 ml of water (3 cups) as soon as you wake up and consume fresh water throughout the day. This will increase your skin radiance, increase blood flow, prevent premature aging of the skin, help with weight loss, maintain metabolism, increase hair shine and texture, relieve heartburn and indigestion, inhibit kidney stones and bladder infections, and strengthen your immune system. [2]
Breakfast recipes for cleansing phase
Fruit salad and Smoothies
Chopped, mixed fresh fruits in any combination, including apples, grapefruit, kiwi and nectarines or oranges, berries, such as blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, grapes. Add walnuts, Brazil nuts and/or almonds. Eat the salad plain or mix with goat’s or sheep’s (Greek) yogurt.
You may also enjoy smoothies made from any combinations of the above fruits, adding avocado if you wish.
Enjoy a cup of coffee, green tea or a cup of Kefir as a beverage.
Chia pudding
This is very easy to fix. Simply combine 1 cup chia seeds with 2 cups of kefir, mix and let sit overnight. It turns into a savory pudding you can eat plain or mix with a teaspoon of honey.
Breakfast recipes for the maintenance phase
Of course, any of the recipes for the cleansing phase may be enjoyed during the maintenance phase.
Oatmeal cereal
Continue with the fruit and nut regimen, and you may add organic oats to the fruit, nut, and yogurt mixture. Add flax seeds or chia seeds as desired.
Eggs
Eggs are an excellent source of nutrition and can be scrambled or made into an omelet with tomatoes, red peppers, and feta cheese, fried, or enjoyed soft boiled (boil for five minutes). Adding sliced avocado and yogurt as a topping to scrambled eggs or omelets is a delicious and nutritious accompaniment.
Banana pancakes
2 ripe bananas
½ cup organic buckwheat flour
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
¼ cup Greek yogurt
¼ cup water
Smash the ripe bananas, add the egg, and mix well. Then add the flour and baking powder and whisk in the yogurt. Add water until you receive a thick, pouring consistency (adding flour if it gets too watery). Grease your griddle with olive oil and cook on the first side until the batter bubbles and dries, then flip it over so both sides are an even brown. Garnish with butter and maple syrup.
Sirniki
A Ukrainian and Russian favorite, these little cottage cheese pancakes are packed with calcium and often probiotics (check on the package for live and active cultures).
1 cup of cottage cheese
1 egg
3 tablespoons of sheep’s or goat’s yogurt
1 tablespoon of honey
1 teaspoon of baking soda
Mix ingredients well and form into balls no bigger than will fit in the palm of your hand. Place on a heated griddle greased with olive oil on medium heat. Brown on one side for about three to five minutes until you see the mixture expand and then carefully slide a spatula (or better yet a scraper) under each sirnik and flit over to brown the opposite side. Carefully remove and serve with yogurt and honey.
For more healthy tips on how to balance your microbiome and still eat well, consult our website at: www.drgutmans.net.